Matched hardwood flooring



June 17, 1930. p Q MQRATZ 1,764,331

MATCHED HARDWOOD FLOORING Filed Feb. 25, 1929 INVE PAUL O. MORATZ NTOR ATTORNEY Patented Junell7, 1930 UNITED sures ram; 0. nom'rz, or nnoomino ron, rumors *nrczmn mnwo'on rnooamc Application filed February 23, 1929. Serial No. 342,231.

This invention relates to matched hardwood fiooring and more particularly to the formation of a hardwood floor .strip that is formed and finished at the mill and when delivered is ready to lay.

It is an ob]ect of this invention to so form long thin strips of hardwood such as used 111 resurfacing old floors in dwellin s, or surfacin floors when constructing. uildings,

that t e same may be finished, that is, scraped,

filled, stained, varnished, rubbed, polished and waxed, at the mill and when laid in place will present an'even surface without cracks or crevices for the collection of moisture, dust or dirt and without projections to catch the mop, broom or brush usually employed in cleaning or polishing.

Such strips are approximately five-sixteenths inches in thickness, two inches in width and vary in length from one to ten feet in length. -Hardwoodsuitable for flooring is expensive andwhen a hardwood floor is desired it is customary to applya veneer of suitable wood over a base of less expensive material. The hardwood lends itself to the formation of thin strips for this purpose which are individually secured to the under body of the floor, as wide boards of such veneer would buckle or warp unless secured by nails intermediate their side edges which would be unsightly and cause unevenness in the smooth fiat surface desired. It is customary to form hardwood floor strips with interlocking tongue and groove edges and nail to the under flooras eachstrip is laid so that the nail head is concealed when the next strip is interlocked therewith.

It is a further object of this invention to so form the opposite edges of hardwood floor strips of the usual dimensions that as each strip is laid, the correct position of the nail is readily indicated to the workman, and when so nailed the placing of the next strip in position ready for nailing will completel conceal the nails of the first strip, clear sucli nails without contact and tie the meetinlg1 edges of the upper finished surface of bot strips together in such a manner that the upper surfaces lay in the same plane and the meeting of the edges is invisible except when the graining of the adjacent strips indicate a slight difference. n

With these and other objects in View reference is made tothe accompanying drawings as illustrating a referred form of this invention with the un erstandin g that minor detail changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 isa fragmentary perspective view illustrating the ends and top finished surface of two matched floor strips as they would appear when in place. 1

Figure 2 is a fragmentary View in transverse vertical section illustrating. the manner in which each strip is nailed to the under floor or sub-flooring.

As shown, each strip 1 is provided with agroove 2 along one longitudinal edge and a tongue of peculiar construction along the opposite longitudinal edge. clearly shown in Figure 1, is formed with a shoulderdextending at right angles to the upper longitudinal vertical edge 4 of the strip from a point approximately one quarter of the thickness of the stri with the horizontal surface of the shoul er terminating in a vertical edge 5 of approximately one-half the width of the said horizontal surface or shoulder. From this vertical surface 5 of the shoulder the tongue is curved outwardly and downwardly, with this curved surface 6 undercut to provide a flat under surface] joinin the lower vertical longitudinal edge 8 at an o tuse angle at a point approximatel one eighth of the thickness of the strip. he groove 2 is so formed on the'longitudinal edge of each strip opposite the tongue so that the groove will receive the tongue of the next adjoining strip and departs from the upper vertical longitudinal edge 9 of the strip ona curve from a point approximately one quarter the thickness of the strip and continues a sufiicient distance inwardly and downwardly to receive the curved part 6 of the tongue and terminates in a flat surface 10, of less width than the sloping fiat surface 7.0f the tongue and adapted to engage thereunder, said surface 10 terminating in a vertical longitudinal edge 11.

Each tongue, as

It might be said that the tongue portion is provided with a double notched or ofi set upper surface, and the groove portion formed with a shoulder adapted to enga e snugly in the upper notch and with a we ge' adapted to engage under the tongue portion to' draw the shoulder into the notch to insure a close fit to insure the positioning of the upper surfaces of the adjoining strips in the same plane.

In laying the floor, the points of the nails 12 are engaged in the second notch or off set and are driven at an angle through the tongue and body portions of the strip 1, as shown in Figure 2, into the sub-surfacin 13, and, as shown in said figure, the nail ead will be received in said second notch or off set without danger of the workmans hammer defacing either the upper corner of the edge of the finished strip or the tongue portion, also, when laying the next strip, the groove is of such shape as to clear the nail head without danger of engaging it and when the next strip is nailedthe wedging engagement of the surfaces 7 and 10 ofcthe tongue and groove respectively, firmly ties the body of the'strip abovethe groove to the upper portlon of the tongue to insure a continuous smooth fiat surface to the floor.

10 of the groove is cut oil so that its longi-- tudinal vertical edge cannot contact the vertical edge under the tongue of the adjacent strip which insures a complete tying action between the wedge and upper surface when the next stri is nailed in place.

Matched ooring strips constructed in ac-' cordance withthis invention have many advantages. They can be laid without driving or blocking, that is, it is not necessary to ta the stri with a hammer to urge it in a horizontal. irection against the laid strip. The

nails do not have to be driven with a nail set to prevent the finished sharp corner above the tongue being bruised because the nails are driven in an ofi set, notch or cavity provided therefor. The wedging action between the ton e and oove prevents squeakin of the lai floor. e ton e being curve downward and of relative y lar e size is not easily broken orinjured when t e strips are being laid. The clearance for the nai heads providedin the oove of the adjoining strip prevents the ody above the oove being raised and the floor to bulge. he'grooved edge bein drawn by the nail in that strip into a w ging engagement with the tongue plane.

of the'laid strip. presents a floor surface free from grooves, cracks or creases at the joints to collect moisture, dust or dirt, as the wedging action produces a tight joint between the upper edgesof the strips and firmly holds these edges of the strips in place against future rising or springing. These many adthe tongue of the next adjacent strip, said tongue having a longitudinal right angular off set adapted to receive the head of a nail driven through the tongue and body of the strip and havmg an undercut portion sloping toward the underside of the strip to the longitudinal vertical edge, and said groove curved to clear the nail heads received within the offset, and formed with a correspondingly shaped lower portion of less length than the undercut of the tongue and adapted to engage thereunder and tie upper edges of the ad- I jacent strip together in the same plane.

2. A floorlng' strip provided with tongue pro ecting along one longitudinal edge having a flat surface at right angles to the edge terminating in a longitudinal right angular notch adapted to receive the head of a nail driven therethrou h, said tongue having an undercut portion orming a flat surface sloping towards the underside of the strip and terminating at the lon the lower corner thereog and a oove entering the opposite longitudinal e e, forming a shoulder adapted to engage t c said flat surface and edge of the tongue upon the next adjacent stri and receive said tongue and clear the hea s of nails driven throu h said notch, and having a flat surface at the 'ottom of-the groove corresponding to the flat unengage under the next a P dercut surface on the tongue and adapted to acent tongue and produce a wedging connection therewith to tie the up er corner of the two strips together wit their upper surface in the same.

PAUL o. MORATZ.

tudinal edge above 

